A/N Thanks to Eira aka phoenix_anamagus for her beta and help on this!
~*~
“What the bloody hell was that all about?” James asked, as he followed Sirius up the stairs to their room.
“James, we have to hurry,” Sirius replied, hastily avoiding his friend’s eyes. He felt a knot in his stomach because he realized how insensitive he had been and how much he’d hurt Alexia. And as she typically did, she reacted with anger when her feelings were hurt.
“Please tell me you didn’t brush off her concerns about her family.” James crossed his arms over his chest, glaring at Sirius.
“How’d you know about that?”
“I wasn’t supposed to say anything to you, but since you’ve gone and been a total git, I guess I’ll have to. She was worried if she told you, you would act like it wasn’t that important. And it appears that she was right.” James shook his head. “Sirius, sometimes you’re a complete prat and amaze even me.”
“Wait a second. She told you before she told me…”
“Don’t even try that lame argument. She almost got her head knocked off at practice the other day, and I asked her what was going on. I think she only told me because she hadn’t had a chance to talk to Lily or anyone else. It’s tearing her apart you know? And I told her to trust you to be understanding.” James pulled his invisibility cloak from his trunk.
“Don’t worry. After the full moon is over, I’ll make it up to her. It might be best if I didn’t resolve things so that’s one less girlfriend we have to make excuses to.” Sirius ran his hand through his hair in frustration. “You could’ve warned me about this at least. If I had known I wouldn’t have cocked it all up.”
“Are you two ready?” Peter said as he came from behind them.
“Let’s go. You can tell me later how barking mad I am, no pun intended,” Sirius said to James, with a small smirk.
~*~
The following day Alexia woke early, hoping to get ready and down to the pitch before people started asking her questions about her and Sirius. She ate her breakfast quickly then headed outside, luckily avoiding everyone. After retrieving Felix, her New Britain Hawk Owl, she balanced him on her arm, then walked down to the pitch with her broom, quill, and scrolls of parchment. She kept repeating the events of last night over and over in her mind.
Before she realized it, she was at the pitch. No one was there yet since the match wasn’t for hours so she had plenty of time to think uninterrupted. She sat on the bleachers, absentmindedly moving leaves with her wand in circle eight patterns and stroking Felix’s soft feathers. Remembering her intent to write her family, she put her wand down and turned around so she was facing the higher bleacher behind her, placing Felix beside her. She sat with the quill in her hand for a few moments before she began writing.
Dear Mum,
I’m very worried about the fact you were harassed by those men. I know you’re capable of taking care of yourself, but the danger there keeps growing. Is it possible all of you could go to France to visit your auntie? Nina is too young to go alone, and that would also keep Dad out of harm’s way. At least you know I’m safe here under Dumbledore’s protection. There are quite a few blokes here that want to join the Death Eaters though. Even here at Hogwarts, the tension between the Muggle born and Pure Bloods has increased. I’m not bothered much by anyone yet. I don’t understand it all myself. Even some of the want-to-be Death Eaters here have Muggle blood in their veins or so I’ve heard.
My classes are fine and I’m doing well at Quidditch. I made some friends lately, including a lovely girl named Lily Evans and her boyfriend, James. I think I’ve mentioned James Potter before, and I’m sure you’ve heard of his family. He’s on the Quidditch team with me, as well. Also they’re good friends with three other blokes; Remus Lupin, Peter Pettigrew, and Sirius Black. In fact, until last night, Sirius was my boyfriend.
Mum, I wish I could talk to you now. I have so many questions and could use some advice. I know you have more important things to worry about, but I feel totally daft for falling for Sirius. I suspected he was a git from the beginning but allowed myself to fall for him, and now he’s broken my heart. I wish there was a spell to protect myself from falling for anyone again. Please don’t tell Dad this. I know how he’ll react about his daughter’s first heartbreak, and it will be mortifying.
All my love,
Alexia
Writing a less emotional letter to her father and sister, she then sat back and watched Felix, jumping between the steps of the bleachers. She’d had the owl since she was only a small child, a gift from her parents on her ninth birthday.
“At least I don’t have to worry about you breaking my heart, do I Felix?” she asked with a smile. Clucking her tongue at him, she allowed him to jump back onto her arm. She stroked his head before attaching the parchments to his ankle. “Take these to Mum and Dad.”
Alexia watched him fly off and wished she could trade places with him. He was so graceful and free when he flew, much like she felt on the broom, but she’d prefer to fly without a broom. If she was an Animagus, she would want to be some type of bird or owl so she could fly whenever she wanted.
“Are you planning to hide down here all day?” Lily said as she walked to sit beside her.
“Thought about it but obviously it’s not working,” Alexia retorted, avoiding Lily’s eyes.
“Do you want to talk about it?”
“Nothing to say. Sirius is a prat, just like I suspected. End of story.”
“Not exactly. James told me the whole story. Well…except the parts he’s omitted.” Lily sighed. “I don’t think that Sirius meant to be an insensitive git. I think it was a side effect of them all being up to something.”
“What do you mean?” Alexia glanced over at Lily.
“Just between us?” Lily asked very mysteriously. “The three of them disappear every month about the same time that Remus goes to visit his mother. James thinks I don’t notice, but once again, they disappeared last night.”
Alexia thought for a moment before asking, “And where do you think they are going? To follow Remus? Go to Hogsmeade or something?”
“I don’t know, and I was afraid to follow them by myself. But now that you’re going out with Sirius…”
“You mean I was going out with him,” Alexia quickly pointed out. “And since I’m not, why would I care where he is going?”
Lily looked at her with frustration. “Will you help me just to help out a friend then?”
Alexia sighed and put her head down on her arms. “I know I’m going to regret this…but yes, I’ll help you.” Looking up at Lily, who was now smiling, she asked, “What did you have in mind?”
“Basically we follow them and find out where they’re going. I know they’re using James’ invisibility cloak which will make it very difficult.” Lily grinned even wider.
“Difficult? Don’t you mean impossible? How do you know they’re leaving then? And how will we be able to follow something we cannot see?”
“Luckily for us, I’m nearly as smart as James is. James is very forgetful and leaves his things lying about.” Lily laughed then pulled a parchment out of her pocket. Pointing her wand at it, she said, “I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."
Alexia watched with fascination as the parchment began to fill up with wording and drawings. Lily opened it and Alexia saw that it was a map of Hogwarts that showed where everyone was at within the castle and grounds.
“That’s bloody brilliant, Lily!” Alexia exclaimed.
“I can’t take credit for making the map, although I wish I did. But I saw James use it once when he didn’t realize I was looking. Then today, he left it tucked in his Ancient Runes book so I pinched it. I have to get it back to him before tonight though, or he’ll miss it when they leave. I’m pretty sure they use it to see that it’s safe.” Lily sat back. “Since we cannot duplicate the map without knowing how they did it, I was thinking we could put an echoing spell on it, so that we could see on a plain piece of parchment whatever the map is showing them.”
“But won’t they see us on the map if we follow them?” Alexia pointed to the map that showed where the two of them were currently sitting.
Lily frowned. “Yes, that’s the rub. I cannot figure out a way to get around that.”
The two of them were quiet while they tried to think of something. Finally, Alexia shrugged. “We’ll just have to watch them on the map to see where they go and go there after they’re already there. If they’re going to Hogsmeade, eventually they’ll stop showing on the map anyway since it’s not on here.”
“I guess that’s all we can do. I just hope we don’t get caught,” Lily replied. “Whatever happens, we won’t rat them out. Deal?”
“Although it’s tempting with Sirius, I wouldn’t want to rat out the other two out just out of spite. Besides, having blackmail against Sirius might be worth more than turning him in for whatever it is they’re doing.” Alexia grinned wickedly.
~*~
After casting the spell and trying it out a few times, Lily and Alexia were satisfied it worked. Lily folded the map back and whispered, “Mischief managed.”
“Alexia, I have been looking for you everywhere,” Sirius said as he walked towards them, causing both girls to jump in surprise.
Out of the corner of her eye, Alexia watched Lily cram the map into her pocket before she stood up and walked down the bleachers. “What do you want? I’m really busy being brassed off at you now so I’m afraid I don’t have time to talk.”
“Please. Give me a chance to explain,” Sirius replied.
“Let me think about it…” Alexia looked up for a minute before resuming her glare at him. “No.”
“Alexia, I’ll see you later at the game,” Lily excused herself. “Good luck Sirius.”
“He doesn’t need luck. He needs a brain. And a heart and soul might help,” Alexia turned around and began gathering her things. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have better things to do than listen to your pitiful attempt at an apology.”
“Who said I was going to apologize? You’re so stubborn and temperamental! You act like a spoiled child who throws a temper tantrum and won’t calm down long enough to know…”
“Spoiled child? You have a lot of nerve calling me spoiled, Mr. Black. I wasn’t born with a silver spoon in my mouth,” Alexia seethed.
Sirius rolled his eyes. “It’s getting old that you bring my family into every argument you cannot win. Yeah, yeah my family is a bunch of Muggle hating nutters, but that doesn’t change the fact that you were just waiting for me to make a mistake! You couldn’t wait to throw it in my face that I was the prat you thought I was. It’s not like I committed an Unforgivable Curse, Alexia. I wasn’t paying attention to what you were saying because I had something else on my mind. That doesn’t mean I don’t care about you or your family. I just didn’t realize we were talking about something so serious until you had already gone mental on me.”
“Don’t worry about it Sirius. You don’t have to put up with me being mental anymore anyway,” Alexia replied, trying to hide her hurt feelings behind her sharp tone of voice.
“One day you’ll realize how much I care about you, and you’ll regret breaking up with me over a misunderstanding.” Sirius grabbed her hand. “I don’t want us to end like this.”
“You’ll get over it and find some other twit to fall for your charm soon, I’m sure.”
Sirius dropped her hand and with a cold look replied, “Right. Because I’m just a prat with no heart and soul. You’re the one who seems so good at dishing out pain to others. Maybe you should think about that.”
After Sirius stormed off, Alexia sat down on the bleacher and wiped away the tears that were falling rapidly on her cheeks.
Story Summary:
Before Lord Voldomort ruined his life, Sirius Black enjoyed his best years at Hogwarts. In his final year, a fellow student manages to turn things up side down for him but he has no complaints.
PG13 for now - might rate higher later
A Birthday Fic for Viv!!!
Chapter Five
I Have No Use for Apologies
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